The Department of Health in the Vhembe District, as part of its "She Conquers" campaign, hosted a dialogue on why young girls date "sugar daddies" or "blessers" as they are more commonly known.
The discussions took place at the Vhembe TVET College's Shingwedzi campus last Monday and also at Vhembe TVET college campuses at Mavhoi, Makwarela, Mashamba,Thengwe and Tshisimani.
Even though the dialogue was only for female students, the hall at the Shingwedzi campus was packed to capacity. The first question that the dialogue facilitator, Ms Connie Luvhengo, asked was who these "blessers"are.
One student, who was sitting in the front, said "blessers are lecturers who sleep with students and promise them free marks." Another student described blessers as "rich old people who promise to take care of young girls financially if they sleep with them." The student said "blessers promise us relief from financial problems and for a young student varsity life is expensive."
Blessers are generally regarded as older men who pay for students' monthly groceries and clothes, pay their rent and spoil them with money. According to the facilitator, Ms Luvhengo, Vhembe has a high rate of teenage pregnancies. This reality also led to her next question: "Do you use protection with your sugar daddies?"
Surprisingly enough, most of the students said no. One student explained that "blessers deceive students and tell them that they are too old to be fertile. They also tell them 'if you give me a child, I will marry you and give you everything you want', which is not true because they leave us after learning that we are pregnant," she said.
The last question concerned the consequences of being a young mother. The students indicated that for some of them it was like having a child with no father and having a child while she was still a child herself.